"Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge."-Horace Mann

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Guantanamo Bay

I have taken an excerpt from a report competed by a professor and students from Seton Hall University School of Law* regareding the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The report uses data released from the United Sates government and military. These five facts below should alarm and appall anyone who believes habeas-corpus and human rights protection are two things the United States should engage in and support. I do not know if any of the 500+ detainees are guilty or innocent. However, all people deserve to know what they are being charged with and the right to have legal representation. There is no justice in imprisoning people indefinitely, without any evidence or legal recourse. Unfortunately this has been going on in Guantanamo for five years.

1. Fifty-five percent (55%) of the detainees are not determined to have committed any hostile acts against the United States or its coalition allies.

2. Only 8% of the detainees were characterized as al Qaeda fighters. Of the remaining detainees, 40% have no definitive connection with al Qaeda at all and 18% are have no definitive affiliation with either al Qaeda or the Taliban.

3. The Government has detained numerous persons based on mere affiliations with a large number of groups that in fact, are not on the Department of Homeland Security terrorist watchlist. Moreover, the nexus between such a detainee and such organizations varies considerably. Eight percent are detained because they are deemed “fighters for;” 30% considered “members of;” a large majority – 60% -- are detained merely because they are “associated with” a group or groups the Government asserts are terrorist organizations. For 2% of the prisoners their nexus to any terrorist group is unidentified.

4. Only 5% of the detainees were captured by United States forces. 86% of the detainees were arrested by either Pakistan or the Northern Alliance and turned over to United States custody.

5. Finally, the population of persons deemed not to be enemy combatants – mostly Uighers – are in fact accused of more serious allegations than a great many persons still deemed to be enemy combatants.

* The authors are counsel for two detainees in Guantanamo. 1 See, Combatant Status Review Board Letters, Release date January 2005, February 2005, March 2005, April 2005 and the Final Release available at the Seton Hall Law School library, Newark, NJ. This 86% of the detainees captured by Pakistan or the Northern Alliance were handed over to the United States at a time in which the United States offered large bounties for capture of suspected enemies.